INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

The region of Volyn' (Volhynia) encompasses the contemporary provinces
(oblasti ) of Volyn', Rivne, Zhytomyr, the northern parts of
Khmel'nytskyi and Ternopil provinces and the Ukrainian ethnographic
districts of southern Belorussian SSR. The south of Volyn' is
predominantly an agricultural area with some forested and swampland
regions, while in its northern parts lie the numerous bogs, swamps and
heaths of Polissya (Polese) - the perfect terrain for guerilla
warfare. This area witnessed in 1942-1943 the birth of the Ukrayins'ka
Povstans'ka Armiya or UPA (the Ukrainian Insurgent Army), whose
soldiers took up arms against both the German and the Soviet power
with an aim of establishing an independent Ukrainian state. In time
the UPA's activities spread to other parts of Ukraine. Peculiar to the
underground movement was the designation of Volyn' as the PZUZ or
Pivnichno-zakhidni ukrains'ki zemli (the North-Western Region of
Ukraine).

This first issue of the "Litopys UPA" deals with the activities of
UPA in Volyn' and Polissya during the German occupation. The materials
collected here give a general characteristic of the situation in these
regions and show the organization of the UPA and its military and
political activity. (The materials dealing purely with the military
activity of the UPA will be published in future collections). This
volume, however, includes several general orders of the Volynian
Command of the UPA and of the UPA Headquarters.

The volume also contains UPA publications pertaining to the First
Conference of the Enslaved Peoples of Eastern Europe and Asia, and UPA
leaflets directed at various ethnic units of the German army.

The volume begins with the article by Col. M. Omeliusik entitled
"The UPA in Volyn' in 1943" which is a serious analysis of the UPA
activity in that region. The author who was the Chief of the
Operational Section of the Volynian Command of the UPA speaks from
personal experience about the successes and failures of the UPA. His
article is also based on a number of later publications about the UPA
on that territory which complement his personal account. This article
is the only item in the book written by an emigre.

The article by H. Levenko "An Historical Outline of the UPA
Struggle" written in Ukraine in 1944 is similar thematically. The
"Outline" as is clear from the introduction was written by a member of
the OUN - Orhanizatsia Ukrains'kych Nationalistiv - (Organization of
Ukrainian Nationalists), who took part in the UPA. It represents
probably one of the first attempts to provide the origins and history
of the UPA under German occupation.

The article by I. M. Kovalenko "The Goals and Methods of the German
Imperialist Policy in the Occupied Regions" offers a thorough critical
analysis of German imperialistic policy. It was written in the spring
of 1943 and was republished several times as educational material for
the UPA forces and the underground as a whole.

The articles which are grouped in the section
"Military - educational, political and informational materials"
represent examples of UPA publications which have appeared in
1943. These publications show the level of professionalism which
existed at the initial period of UPA's organizational activities and
the sources of historical traditions sought by their authors for the
UPA. Here the analyst will find two versions of a document which is
known under its later title, namely, 'What is the UPA Fighting
For?". The first version of this document under the title "What is the
Revolutionary-Liberationist UPA Fighting For?", was undersigned by the
OUN Leadership and printed as a leaflet in Ukrainian and Russian. The
text of this leaflet was subsequently shortened, revised and re-edited
by the Political Section of the UPA Supreme Command, and released
under the title "What is the UPA Fighting For?", this time undersigned
"Ukrainian Insurgent Army". This document represents a political credo
of the UPA. Worthy of interest are the changes which the editors found
necessary to introduce into the original version of the document.

The Orders of the UPA Command in the Volyn' Region which was at
that time the Supreme Command of all UPA, throw light on various
aspects of military administration. "Order to the UPA Forces" of 27
August 1943 establishes a system of ranks and regulates certain
personal matters ( subsequently this order was superseded by the order
of the UPA Supreme Command in 1944, which introduced changes into the
nomenclature of military ranks). Order #8 of 30 August, deals with the
organization of self-defence units among the population. Order #9 of 1
September 1943 regulates reporting channels of the UPA Commanders,
orders the stock-taking of the radiotechnical material, and deals with
the organization of cavalry units. Other orders focus on the
following: preservation of military secrets ( #10 of 3 September
1943); organization of a village's self-defence and plans of action
against German punitive expeditions ( #11 of 4 September 1943);
organization of recruitment of the candidates to the second officers
school and to other training schools ( #12 of 4 September 1944);
granting of non-commissioned and commissioned officer ranks to UPA
soldiers ( #13 of 4 September 1943); and the organization of contacts
and cooperation with the non-German military units in the German army
(#17 of 28 October 1943).

A number of orders issued by the Chief of Political Staff of the
UPA Group "Zahrava" deal with the organization of schools in the area
of its operations. These are quite typical examples of the UPA
activities in this sphere.

The volume also contains a number of Orders of the UPA Supreme Command
of January 1944 because they are directly relevant to UPA activities
in Volyn'. Here we find the "Instruction of the Work of Military
Command Headquarters" which represents an appendix to Order #1/1944
(the copy of the Order itself is not available) which outlines the
duties of command staffs. Order #2/1944 deals with promotions and
staff changes. Order #3/1944 regulates military honours and
decorations and establishes military insignia for commissioned and
non-commissioned officers.

A large number of documents and photographs in this volume were
made available by the Archives of ZP UHVR or Zakordonne
Predstavnytstvo Ukrains'koi Holovnoyi Vyzvol'noyi Rady (Foreign
Representation of the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council). These and
other sources are properly identified by footnotes.

The compilers would like to express their gratitude to all
institutions and individuals who helped with the publication of this
first volume of the "Litopys UPA".

A name and geographical index as well as explanatory notes are
located at the end of the volume.